American Cancer Society Seeks Participants In Major Prevention Study

The following press release was submitted by the American Cancer Society:

Skokie resident and music teacher at Fairview South Elementary School,  Karyn Israel knows about cancer. She's a 22 year survivor of melanoma, and she has lost five family members to the dreaded disease.

More than 10 years after her diagnosis, Karyn realized that she wanted to give back to the American Cancer Society -- an organization that helped provide her information and comfort through her cancer and the cancer of her family members. She didn't feel that she had much to give. Once she got involved as an active volunteer, she found out that there are many ways to help without reaching for a wallet. She's worked at Relays and given survivor speeches to help inspire and much more. But now, she found out about a research study that she CAN'T participate in, but she can help with!

"This Cancer Prevention Study 3 is going to be an exciting part of history - a step farther in eliminating cancer from this earth," Karyn said. "People often ask me what they can do, well, this is a personal contribution. A unique and special way to give."

As it celebrates its 100th birthday, the American Cancer Society is looking to local residents to help finish the fight against cancer by reaching full enrollment in a historic research study. Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) will give scientists a better understanding of cancer causes and prevention. The Society is looking for local men and women between the ages of 30 and 65 from various racial/ethnic backgrounds with no personal history of cancer to help reach full enrollment of at least 300,000 people.

The opportunity for local residents to enroll in CPS-3 will take place at NorthShore Skokie Hospital (Abramson Conference Room, 9600 Gross Point Road, Skokie) on Wednesday, June 19 from 1:30-5:30 pm.

Signing up requires a one-time in-person visit to read and sign a consent form, complete a survey, have your waist measured, and give a small non-fasting blood sample like what you’d do during a routine doctor visit. Participants will also complete a more detailed survey at home and will continue to receive periodic follow-up surveys in the future that researchers will use to look for more clues to cancer’s causes.

“Many individuals diagnosed with cancer struggle to answer the question, ‘What caused my cancer?’ In many cases, we don’t know the answer,” said Alpa V. Patel, Ph.D., principal investigator of CPS-3. “CPS-3 will help us better understand what factors cause cancer, and once we know that, we can be better equipped to prevent cancer.”

CPS-3 is the latest addition to the Society’s groundbreaking cancer prevention studies, which have been instrumental in helping identify major factors that can affect cancer risk. Researchers say CPS-3 holds the best hope of identifying new and emerging cancer risks. But its success depends on members of the community becoming involved. Researchers will use data from CPS-3 to build on evidence from those earlier cancer prevention studies, which began in the 1950s and involved hundreds of thousands of volunteer participants.

“Among other findings, these cancer prevention studies have confirmed the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer, demonstrated the link between larger waist size and increased death rates from cancer and other causes, and showed the considerable impact of air pollution on heart and lung conditions,” said Bruce Brockstein, MD, director of the Kellogg Cancer Center at NorthShore University HealthSystem. “Changes in lifestyle over the past several decades as well as a better understanding of cancer make this latest chapter in this lifesaving series of studies a critical part of continuing the progress we’re seeing against the disease.”

For more information or to learn how to become involved with CPS-3, visitwww.cps3illinois.org, email cps3@cancer.org or call toll-free 1-888-604-5888.

About the American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us any time, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.